Creative, Social Media-Based Punishments For Children

Pretty much since it first appeared, the Internet has been a good source for a couple of things. Chief among them -- and no, not the one you’re thinking of -- is parental worry.

Earlier this week, we looked at the many ways technology could, maybe, be hurting kids. TV might be making them fat and lazy, while iPads (AAPL) are addictive and destroy the attention span. Of course, the scientific jury’s still out on both of those things.

Meanwhile, kids—and adults, for that matter—continue to do dumb things on social media. High schoolers, for example, consistently post pictures of parties on Facebook (FB) and are then shocked when those pictures are used to get them in trouble (this happened more than once when I was in school).

Well, one Texas mother thinks she may have the solution. After ReShonda Tate Billingsley -- a prominent Houston author -- found an Instagram photo of her twelve-year old daughter holding an unopened bottle of vodka over the caption “I sure wish I could drink this,” she decided to teach her a lesson.

On Instagram.

Billingsley ordered her daughter to post a picture of herself holding a sign that read: “Since I want to post photos of me holding liquor, I am obviously not ready for social media and will be taking a hiatus until I learn what I should (and) should not post. Bye-bye.” Apparently, the girl was so upset at the prospect of this punishment that she cried for a day and begged for a spanking instead.

All to no avail. Billingsley forced her to post the photo on Instagram and then reposted it on her own Facebook, with her daughters face obscured.

Since, it has gotten Billingsley interviewed on Dr. Drew and My Fox Houston. From the looks of her Facebook page, which is replete with fawning comments from parents, the punishment has also turned Billingsley into something of social media guru.

Now, personally, I have to question the effectiveness of teaching a kid not to do dumb things on the Internet by making them do dumb things on the Internet. Still, Billingsley’s daughter probably won’t post anything on Instagram, or anywhere else, again -- ever.